Amazon Woman
The Amazons are a tribe of warrior women birthed from the union of Harmonia and Ares, the Olympian gods of harmony and war respectively. As lesser divinities, the Amazons were both immortal and possessed of great strength and fighting prowess; however, they soon fell into battle.
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Seeking to save themselves from extinction, the Amazons beseeched their mother and she granted them their own island to reign; a paradise free from the destructive influences of mortal men. There, men were slaves to the women; useful only for procreation and training their young.
Although it is not truly established where the Amazons resided, the Amazons were said to have inhabited Ancient Libya long before they settled along the Thermodon. Migrating from Libya, these Amazons passed through Egypt and Syria, and stopped at the Caïcus in Aeolis, near which they founded several cities. Later they established Mytilene a little way beyond the Caïcus. The original home of the Amazons was placed in the country about Lake Maeotis, and from which they moved to Themyscira on the Thermodon. Homer tells that the Amazons were sought and found somewhere near Lycia.
Notable queens of the Amazons are Penthesilea, who participated in the Trojan War, her sister Hippolyta, whose magical girdle, given to her by her father Ares, was the object of one of the labors of Heracles and their mother, Otrera, consort of Ares and the first (and perhaps the most well-known) Amazonian queen. The Amazons fought on the side of Troy against the Greeks during the Trojan War. Amazon warriors were often depicted in battle with Greek warriors in amazonomachies in classical art. Archaeological discoveries of burial sites with female warriors on the Eurasian Steppes suggest that the Scythian women may have inspired the Amazon myth. From the early modern period, their name has become a term for female warriors in general.
